Seeking to avoid steep spending cuts scheduled to begin March 1, President Obama will call on Congress on Tuesday to devise an alternative package of reductions and new tax revenue that could postpone the deeper cuts for a few months.

The president’s remarks, scheduled for 1:15 p.m. EST Tuesday in the White House briefing room, comes as the economy showed a slight dip and economists warned against severely cutting back on federal spending. Obama is seeking a short-term fix that could buy time while Congress compiles its budgets this spring “to avoid the economically harmful consequences” of the so-called sequester cuts, a White House official said.